The Nets might not be the best team in the NBA, but the Boston Celtics made mincemeat of Brooklyn on Wednesday night.
The C’s topped the Nets 149-115, marking their first blowout since officially returning to play in the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for an impressive 40 points as all five starters totaled 80 points. Robert Williams III (18 points) and Brad Wanamaker (13 points) made their mark off the bench.
Head coach Brad Stevens liked what he saw from his squad.
“The energy overall was good for our whole team,” Stevens said after the game, via Boston.com. “I thought we came out and played the right way.”
That said, the C’s still have room for improvement as the playoffs slowly approach. They’re now 2-2 since the NBA resumed play, claiming the win Wednesday after a six-point loss to the Heat on Tuesday.
So, what will the C’s do to give themselves an edge in the next four games?
“Get better,” Brown said, bluntly, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “It’s about us. Continue to get better, get in a rhythm, making sure we’re playing the game the right way defensively, be a really good team, just (expletive) to beat — excuse my language — as we’re going into the playoffs. So, if we figure that out, we’ll be alright.”
Here are some more notes from Wednesday’s Celtics-Nets contest:
More: Brad Stevens Offers Stern Warning To Celtics Ahead Of NBA Playoffs
— He might not have been the star of the night, but Williams certainly looked good in the contest.
The 22-year-old posted career-high 18 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting. This is the third time he’s scored at least 10 points on 100 percent shooting in a game, all of which occurred this season, per Celtics Stats.
Rob Williams scored a career-high 18 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting (4-4 FT)
It's the third time in his NBA career he's scored at least 10 points on 100.0% shooting (all this season)
— Celtics Stats (@celtics_stats) August 6, 2020
— The C’s put together a true team effort through 48 minutes.
Every single member of Boston’s active roster touched the floor AND scored. The Celtics recorded a season-high 149 points as a result.
Every Celtic that has checked in tonight has scored. Team is up to a season-high 143 points.
— Boston.com Celtics News (@BDCCeltics) August 6, 2020
— The Celtics’ ball movement was much better Wednesday than it was Tuesday.
And while Stevens was encouraged by portions of the game, he knows there’s pros and cons to the team’s game at the moment.
“The energy overall was good for our whole team. Probably came out and played the right way. I thought the second unit obviously did a lot of good things,” Stevens said.
“… I think we’ve had moments of playing good basketball, not enough through the course of games. So we talked about that in pretty good detail this morning. Wanted to play better on both ends. I thought we were stagnant before against the zone on Tuesday night. When they went zone today, I thought they were purposeful and made the right reads and played with pace and all that other stuff. So I thought that there was a lot of urgent things, but we’ve got to keep going with it and build off of it on both ends.”
— The C’s will try to make it two wins in a row when they take on the Toronto Raptors on Friday, with tip-off slated for 9 p.m. ET.
